Current Affairs and Critical Issues in American Culture

What's in your newsfeed? Media outlets drive critical conversations and public discourse, and in this course students have the chance to keep up and weigh in. We read the news and examine current affairs as they unfold week by week, critically analyzing and exploring modes of understanding, historicizing, and contextualizing contemporary issues in American society. The course introduces students to theoretical and conceptual frameworks for this engagement and asks questions such as: How are these issues related to the past? How have Americans experienced this issue before? And how is the contemporary context different? We'll follow trends in pop culture, technology, politics, and society. Students learn to layer current issues with historical documents, the commentary of public intellectuals and cultural critics, and political, economic, and social policies. The course stresses research analysis, group process, critical thinking, multidisciplinary inquiry, and professional writing and speaking skills. The course will enroll 20; students should put themselves on the waitlist and they will be enrolled by the program.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Eth; BU BA; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM

Current Affairs and Critical Issues in American Culture

AMERICAN CULTURE STUDIES 3060

Section 01